Blair N. Cummings wrote:I`m sure I posted this years ago but we`re in such a rut here anyway another rerun can`t hurt. The song was actually composed by Lalo Schifrin whose major claim to fame (as American Baby Boomers will recall) was writing the theme for the TV show Mission:Impossible.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=74L8h1g4ixA

You might have done, Blair, but it's good to hear it again. I always find with Randy Crawford that once I've heard her sing one song I immediately want to hear another. Extraordinary to think that something as subtle and understated as her self penned 'Almaz' could get into the UK Top 10 as recently as the late 80s. I can't claim that this owes anything to Bacharach other than that some of the piano part has echoes of a certain Oscar winning title song of his:

I've just been lifted out of "the rut" referred to here. ... Often forget how compelling a voice Randy Crawford possesses and I do pick up on the "sounds like BB" vibe - especially with the 2 words "People Alone". ..... Easy to imagine how Dionne could have covered this song in her inimitable style "back in the day" ... Thanks for posting this link Blair!

Tony Hatch hasn't been referred to over the years as 'Britain's Burt Bacharach' for nothing and in common with his musical hero he's recorded instrumental versions of his hit songs which sometimes contain a harmonic sidestep or a quirky bit of orchestration. 'Where Are You Now' as sung by Jackie Trent has already been featured in this topic but here's his instrumental version.

Taking a particular motif from a song and using it for the intro and fade on the recording is a very Bacharachian trait, and so is having female backing vocalists sing it wordlessly. Tony Hatch wrote 'When the Summertime is Over' with Jackie Trent and he also arranged and produced her recording of the song.

pljms wrote:Taking a particular motif from a song and using it for the intro and fade on the recording is a very Bacharachian trait, and so is having female backing vocalists sing it wordlessly. Tony Hatch wrote 'When the Summertime is Over' with Jackie Trent and he also arranged and produced her recording of the song.

Blue, I think Corinne Drewery would be at home with any number of 60s classics and it was only the other day that I was mentally compiling a Swing Out Sister performs Bacharach album. They're so steeped in the music and the combination of Andy Connell's arranging skills with Corinne Drewery's subtle and distinctive voice couldn't really fail to do it justice.

Back to Tony Hatch, 'Beautiful in the Rain' was a slow, jazzy album track by Petula Clark but I prefer Tony Hatch's more upbeat instrumental version. Despite the flugelhorn, this probably doesn't owe as much to Bacharach as the other Hatch tunes already featured here but it's still a nice listen.

It's no coincidence that Tony Hatch is by far and away the most featured composer/arranger in this thread and here's another one of his superbly crafted gems, words and music. As soon as we hear the intro we know we're in Bacharach influenced territory once again and the way the female backing vocalists are used is also very reminiscent of mid-60s Burt. This features a more than usual impassioned performance from Petula Clark:

I think in the UK Tony Hatch was just as well known for writing instantly catchy TV themes as he was for his songwriting. 'Man Alive' was a brilliant BBC current affairs programme which started in the 60s and went on until the 80s. It's fondly remembered by many as is its theme tune by Hatch.https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=V0VrTUhPw6M

I've just been lifted out of "the rut" referred to here. ... Often forget how compelling a voice Randy Crawford possesses and I do pick up on the "sounds like BB" vibe - especially with the 2 words "People Alone". ..... Easy to imagine how Dionne could have covered this song in her inimitable style "back in the day" ... Thanks for posting this link Blair!

Ron

I saw Randy Crawford four weeks ago at the Cheltenham Jazz Festival and I'm pleased to report that her voice is just as compelling as ever. However, in common with the previous occasions I've seen her perform live most of the evening she sang well within herself and this was especially noticeable on ballads like 'One Day I'll Fly Away' which lacked the emotional punch of her classic recording. The more upbeat songs came off better and this Joe Sample/Will Jennings song was a particular highlight:

Thom Bell/Linda Creed has always been compared to Bacharach/David..Indeed Thom Bell studied orchestation in university and so did Bacharach.I love Thom Bell's songs. Here's a fav of mine by Johnny Mathis (he did a whole album of Bell/Creed songs in 1976)I love the song so much that I made an MV with stunning images, depicting a man's life from baby to adult (working like a machine in the Rat race)

For me the only rival to Bacharach who ever lived was Laura Nyro who herself was influenced by Bacharach her fellow Brill Building composer and one the many artists Nyro influenced the greatest effects can be seen in Todd Rundgren. So it seems even with six degrees of separation it sounds like we are listening to a Bacharach song with his group Nazzs song take the hand.

I have been on a Todd Rundgren spree. Cant you tell? I hear a bit of Bacharach influence(by way of Laura Nyro) here as well as some Lieber/Stoller in the very beginning as well as some Holland/Dozier. You guys agree with me?

One correction, Geoff: Laura Nyro never worked in the Brill Building and wrote songs only for herself. So many of those that appeared on her first two albums were commercially successfully covered by others causes some now to think that she was a professional "hit - maker" in the mode of Carole King and Ellie Greenwich. She wasn`t. After disappearing for the first half of the `70s, she re-emerged as a newly ex-urban "earth mother." She wrote beautiful melodies but the lyrics were like eco-feminist greeting cards. The old spark was gone.